Getting Ready for the Biggest Shopping Days

Out of all the shopping days, Cyber Monday and Black Friday rank among the most important days for online sellers. Over the span of a few days, millions of shoppers will be looking out for the best deals they can get on products being sold online. Lots of people shop on both of these days, so it is imperative that you are ready for these shoppers so you can have a profitable period.

Since Cyber Monday is only a few days after Black Friday, you can save yourself a lot of work if you make preparations for both at the same time. Get ready for these busy shopping days by making the following preparations.

Can Your Site Handle Large Amounts of Traffic?

Before Black Friday and Cyber Monday arrive you should think about your site’s capabilities in regards to handling traffic. It should come as no surprise that massive deals attract lots of people, so on these days you will have many more shoppers to work with. If your website cannot handle the influx of shoppers it will probably slow down, and if the traffic becomes too much to handle it might crash all together. That is the last thing you want to happen.

To prepare, go through your analytics from the previous shopping season to see how many people visited your website last year. With this information, you can develop a general idea of how many people may visit your site. If you have any concerns, set aside some time to speak with your website provider so you can make sure it is prepared for the influx of shoppers.

Logicblock partners will not need to worry; our advanced infrastructure ensures that our websites run at the best possible performance, even under strenuous conditions.

Check Your Inventory for Both Days

The most important aspect of selling on a busy shopping day is having enough products to sell. If you run out of products to sell before the day is over then you will be missing out on thousands of potential sales. Use estimates from the previous year to get an idea of how much inventory you will need to keep up with demand. Applications such as Tradegecko can help you keep track of your current inventory before Black Friday arrives.

This is especially important if you, like many other sellers, take part in both Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Make sure you have enough stock for both days so you do not run out for the second day. It would be disastrous to have a good Black Friday, only to find out that you do not have enough products left to sell for Cyber Monday.

How Are You Handling Discounts?

Online shoppers are looking for good deals on quality products, so you need to have a game plan in regards to how you will handle discounts. Typically, it is a good idea to offer discounts up to at least 20%, because anything lower will probably not interest consumers. Offer larger discounts if you can afford to do so, because better deals can lead people away from your competitors.

Place discounts on your most popular items so you can entice more people to pick them up. If you can, put a countdown on your homepage to create a sense of urgency within customers. Finally, if you plan to offer discount codes on these days you should test them to make sure they work before people attempt to put them in.

Fix Broken Links & Old Information

Dead links are a problem for any online seller, but they can be especially disastrous on days like Cyber Monday. If links are not working properly they will not be able to bring your customers to product pages, and this will lead to lost sales. Even worse, dead links make people think that your site is not working properly, and users will likely sign off as a result. Test all the links on your site and fix any of the ones that are not working.

In addition, you should also be keeping an eye out for any outdated information that is still lingering on your site. For example, if the contact email on your site is out of date, users cannot contact you if they need help with something. Check your contact information and other important pages to make sure everything is up to date.

Create Your Email Marketing Campaign Early On

A strong email campaign can help you bring customers from your email list to your store on Black Friday and Cyber Monday. You can use this to let people know what products are going to be on sale, and they will know to visit your store when the sales go live. It would be wise to design this campaign as soon as you can so you can send emails over the weeks leading to Black Friday.

Design your emails in a way that quickly delivers information while also presenting strong visuals that people will remember. Usually, keeping your email simple is the best option. You can use your emails to offer special Black Friday discounts to any customers who have been with you for a long time. Special incentives like these can convince people to buy from you instead of your competitors.